'Top-notch' means more than shiny coffee stand

It's not every day — OK, it's not every couple of years — a columnist gets a call from a federal judge suggesting a human-interest story.

In line with their proverbial sobriety, judges are known for their reluctance to comment on the news, let alone generate it.

Judges, I'd say, are the worst news sources in my world. They dispense justice from the bench, not over the phone to someone taking notes.

That's why I'm still surprised I was contacted last week by semi-retired federal Judge Joel Gerber, former chief judge of the U.S. Tax Court.

Gerber wanted to report what he saw as a clear injustice.

A resident of Solana Beach for several years, Gerber catches a train from the sleekly minimalist Cedros station, designed by architect Rob Quigley.

Like many morning travelers, Gerber likes to drop by the little coffee shed operated by Grace Palacios.

Gerber enjoys picking up a newspaper and passing the time with the cheerful woman, a former hotel worker who for the last eight years has been, literally, a fixture at the station.

About a week ago, Palacios, 62, learned from Chuck Pretto of Koby Corp., which manages coffee vendors on the county's trolley and rail lines, that her month-to-month lease was being abruptly terminated.

The North County Transit District, which owns the station, had determined that a generator belonged where Palacios' shed is. No discussion about moving her, possibly inside the lobby. She'd have to move out by Oct. 4, period.

When he heard about the summary eviction, Gerber wrote a critical letter to Matt Tucker, the North County Transit District's new director. There was no immediate reply. Gerber then phoned me.

Let's back up a bit.

In an e-mail Sept. 4, Edward Singer, the real estate administrator for North County Transit District, updated Pretto on plans to install the emergency generator in the space where Palacios' stand is now.

“It is uncertain whether Solana Beach will have a concessionaire in the future,” Singer wrote. “Once our improvements are made, we can evaluate letting someone back in again. If we do, we will require a top-notch kiosk and operator. Please inform the concessionaire to remove all her fixtures and the shed in the next 30 days.”

A couple of things worry me about this e-mail.

First, “the concessionaire” isn't just some concessionaire. She has a name. She's Grace Palacios, a human being at her station for eight years.

Second, the word
top-notch
implies that Palacios' mom-and-pop is not top-notch.

Well, I object to that adjective.

And I know a judge who'll sustain my objection.

“We're just as upset,” Koby Corp.'s Pretto said of the NCTD's decision to banish Palacios.

Pretto conceded he may have bent the rules to allow Palacios to move into the shed she bought a year or two ago. (Before that, she operated her coffee cart outside, in the morning damp.)

“I allowed her to be there at my own peril,” Pretto said. “I wanted her to stay there.”

Evidently, the NCTD took a jaundiced view.

“They're not happy with her house,” Pretto surmised.

Granted, the shed won't win an Orchid — think Home Depot, not Rob Quigley — but she paid for the shed out of her modest income. It's a good bet commuters don't care if the shed is homely.

By the metric that matters — customer satisfaction — Palacios appears to run a top-notch operation.

Granted, she cannot invest $75,000 — that's what Cadillac kiosks are running, Pretto told me — but she can whip up a hot cup of coffee or offer a pastry with a smile that sneaks up on you like a summer sunrise.

While I was hanging around Thursday morning, Jeremy, a young man dressed in black Hamlet mode, came in for his regular cup and confided to Palacios, whom he's known three years, that he was on drugs.

Palacios raised her eyebrows.

“Melatonin,” he said with a sleepy ghost of a smile.

If Palacios is forced to leave, Jeremy will be bummed.

And he's not alone.

“I'm being selfish,” Gerber told me. “I want Grace there because I enjoy her company.”

I wrote an ending to this column as I was reporting it.

Is the NCTD such a cold, bureaucratic fish, such an elitist architectural snob, that it will use the installation of a generator as cover to evict without a hearing a morning jolt of sunshine?

As it turns out, the practical answer to the rhetorical question is:
Maybe not.

A call to Councilman Dave Roberts, Solana Beach's representative on the NCTD board, prompted Roberts to call Tucker, the NCTD's director, to see what gives.

Calling it “democracy at work,” Tucker told me that the decision to evict Palacios, possibly in favor of a more “top-notch” vendor, had been “frozen.”

Tucker is going to set up a visit to the coffee shed and “make sure we're doing what's right for folks,” he told me, adding that he liked “eclectic” styles of buildings.

The jury is out on whether Palacios will remain at her station for years to come, but Palacios will be treated “how I would want to be treated,” Tucker promised.